The Blue Jackets realize they don’t have the personnel to run a mesmerizing power play like the star-studded Pittsburgh Penguins, who can make penalty killers chase the puck like a cat tracking a flashlight.

But if the Blue Jackets can be moderately better with the man advantage than they were last season — if the unit can create momentum rather than drain it — they might just score enough goals to win games on nights when goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t all-world.

“Not being able to produce in the offensive zone, and not being able to produce regularly on the power play … it put more stress on us defensively and on our goaltender,” Blue Jackets coach Todd

Richards said. “If we gave up more than two goals, we had a hard time getting points.

“It’s something we’ve talked about all the way back to the summer, and certainly since the start of training camp, that our power play needs to be a catalyst for us.”

Richards knows the math. In fact, he showed it to players in the dressing room earlier in training camp.

When the Blue Jackets scored three or more goals last season, they were 19-2-4. When they scored two or fewer, they were just 5-15-3. The power play, ranked 28th in the NHL at

14.2 percent, didn’t help the cause.

“When you think back to last season and how close we came (to making the playoffs), it’s probably the difference,” forward Mark Letestu said. “It has to be the way we win some games this year.”

For now, it requires a leap of faith to expect a big difference.

During practice yesterday, the top unit had James Wisniewski and Jack Johnson running the points, with Artem Anisimov, Cam Atkinson and Marian Gaborik at forward.

The second unit was Letestu and Fedor Tyutin on the points, with Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Johansen and rookie Boone Jenner at forward.

Like so much else with the Blue Jackets, those are not set in stone, much less written in ink. R.J. Umberger, who led Blue Jackets’ forwards in power-play time last season, was not part of either unit in practice yesterday.

Richards wants a new look and a new approach.

“I think we all felt that last year we were too predictable,” Johansen said. “It just seemed like opponents would watch video on us and they’d know exactly what we were doing every time.

“So we’re working on movement, supporting the puck more, switching spots, creating some confusion for the penalty-killers and opening up some slots for passes or shots.”

This was noticeable during exhibition games. The Jackets’ point men criss-crossed atop the zone, while the forwards swirled and reset the puck around the walls repeatedly.

The key, Richards said, is not who’s moving where, but how quickly they’re moving.

“We were stationary too much last season,” he said. “And when your feet aren’t moving or the puck isn’t moving, you’re much easier to defend. I’d like to have more flow.

“And to be honest, I’m looking more for us to do it the right way than just getting numbers. If we do it the right way, we’re going to score goals. And even if we don’t score, we’ll be successful at taking momentum in the game.”

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